The Saudi Embassy denied “political reasons“ to suspend the importation of chicken meat from five Brazilian companies. According to the statement released today (25), it was “an exclusively technical and routine decision“, as companies in “disagreement“ with the standards demanded by the country were “unlearned“.

According to diplomatic representatives, the Saudi government will soon send a detailed technical explanation. With the information in hand, Saudi diplomats in Brazil plan to hold meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in federal agencies, as well as for the companies involved.

According to the Saudi Arabian Embassy, the suspension was based on a procedure to update the list of Brazilian companies accredited to export. To carry out this update, the Saudi Arabian Government sent on August 1, 2018, a mission of technicians and inspectors to verify the conditions of the slaughter of chicken.

According to the embassy, these technicians returned to Saudi Arabia and prepared a detailed document, stating whether Brazilian slaughterhouses met the sanitary standards of the country. The suspension of chicken imports was based on the list of Brazilian slaughterhouses disapproved on this list.

“It should be remembered in this regard that the guidelines and phytosanitary guidelines required by the Kingdom’s General Food and Drugs Commission apply to all food-exporting countries for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,“ the official note of the Saudi government says.

The Saudi Embassy denies that the decision was motivated by the possibility of Brazil transferring the Brazilian embassy to Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.

The complete statement from the Embassy of Saudi Arabia follows

NOTE

With reference to the news circulating through various local media, referring to the decision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which consists of stopping the exports of poultry meat from some of the refrigerators in the Federative Republic of Brazil, claiming that the decision was motivated by political reasons.

In this context, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accredited to the Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil declares and confirms that the decision to cancel the imports issued to the detriment of some Brazilian chicken meat exporting companies was an exclusively technical and routine decision, on the fringes of an update on the list of agri-food companies accredited to export their products from Brazil to the Kingdom, disregarding some that acted in disregard of the guidelines and requirements required by the Saudi Technical Delegation sent to Brazil by the General Food Commission and Drugs of the Kingdom, and after inspections carried out in the premises of the Brazilian slaughterhouses by the same on Aug. 1st , 2018.

It should be recalled in this regard that the guidelines and phytosanitary guidelines required by the Kingdom’s General Food and Drugs Commission apply to all food-exporting countries for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.